I've always been fascinated by the personality and work of Francisco de Goya. Hence you have found in reading this book a real source of enjoyment, while has helped me better understand a figure milestone in the history of painting of all time. The Goya is certainly a complicated life, which announced full and successful, but ended up taking an unexpected turn, first by the illness that left him the terrible consequences of deafness, and later by the outbreak of War of Independence that marked him so much. These events had an indelible stamp on his artistic development, which runs Hugues brilliantly in the pages that make up this extraordinary biography. The author examines in detail all the chapters of the painter's life from his birth in Fuendetodos (Zaragoza) in 1746, until his death in Bordeaux in 1828 occurred after a stroke. The most important moments of his life story are explained accurately and very enjoyable. His beginnings in Tapestry Factory of Santa Barbara, its relations with the Court and the circles of the aristocracy and bourgeoisie Madrid, his friendship with the family of the Dukes of Osuna, his alleged love affair with the famous Duchess of Alba , suspicions about him afrancesado relapsed after the war, his inner suffering during the long war ... are some of Hugues dissects moments, giving his own opinion on certain controversial aspects of the painter, using all existing documentation on these topics. The historical context Goya moves, the Spain of Charles III, Charles IV and Ferdinand VII back and grim, are also described in a style that captures the reader's interest. The characters who parade through the pages out of history books to become flesh and bone. Psychological analysis of these, and the painter, although it suffers from too personal at times, is one of the most interesting attractions of the work.
are also very interesting comments from many of the works cited in this book Hugues, which includes a comprehensive collection of images and high quality that help us better understand the evolution of painting and how to work the painter. His work is so varied and changing, is still causing controversy in the art world as original and strange for many of his creations.
was an atypical artist, a genius for many, a critic of the society of his time he had to conceal their views and suffering to enjoy life more or less peaceful, but used his painting as a means of expression agitated inside that world and even tortured at times. At the end of his life, his break with Spain in the return to absolutism was such that he decided to leave the country in which he had always lived to go to France, where there was a large colony of exiled political trend more or less liberal. Many
drank pictorial movements after his extraordinary creativity, and thus is considered one of the most original painters of all time. I'll stick with his role as witness to the collective suffering, his denunciation of the violence of war as something abominable, whether from the side that comes. His famous work The Shootings of May 3rd still overwhelmed and has not lost any of today. While there are still wars, while continuing abuses of the powerful over the less fortunate, the work of Goya is a complaint concerning immovable these situations.
not fail to read this book If you are interested in the figure of the Aragonese painter. The Gutenberg Galaxy edition (Ballantine Books) is also a treat for the senses. A wonderful tribute to an artist who escapes any possible classification.
Francisco de Goya: The Shootings of May 3rd. Museo del Prado (Madrid)
